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The hit Disney movie "Moana" features stunning visual effects, including the animation of water to such a degree that it becomes a distinct character in the film.
UCLA mathematics professor Joseph Teran, a Walt Disney consultant on animated movies since 2007, is under no illusion that artists want lengthy mathematics lessons, but many of them realize that the success of animated movies often depends on advanced mathematics.
"In general, the animators and artists at the studios want as little to do with mathematics and physics as possible, but the demands for realism in animated movies are so high," Teran said. "Things are going to look fake if you don't at least start with the correct physics and mathematics for many materials, such as water and snow. If the physics and mathematics are not simulated accurately, it will be very glaring that something is wrong with the animation of the material."
Teran and his research team have helped infuse realism into several Disney movies, including "Frozen," where they used science to animate snow scenes. Most recently, they applied their knowledge of math, physics and computer science to enliven the new 3-D computer-animated hit, "Moana," a tale about an adventurous teenage girl who is drawn to the ocean and is inspired to leave the safety of her island on a daring journey to save her people.
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(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday January 04 2017, @08:42PM
I think you are comparing the best of the past with everything (good and bad) from today.
Despite my long other post pointing out decline, I actually agree with this too. There was a LOT of crap made "back in the day." Granted, not as much of it was dependent on special effects, since special effects wasn't advanced enough to carry so much of the plot. But there were lots of films with terrible acting, bad writing, etc. -- they were just driven by cheesy formulas for Romances or Westerns or whatever. So I'm not sure I'd say that films have declined -- but there certainly ARE a higher percentage of films today that depend on things like special effects to drive them. And, if nothing else, pacing has changed radically for mainstream films. By today's standards, even the crappy mainstream Rom-coms and Westerns of yesteryear frequently move at a glacial pace.